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Value Propositions

The better the product/service fits the costumer needs or answers the costumers questions, the more change the costumer chooses the brand for another. A bundle such product/services is called value propositions. This chapter is full of value propositions for cocoa farmers and Licensed Buying Companies (LBCs). In order to satisfy the costumer needs, it is needed to know them, and they could be found in block ‘costumer segments’. Some of the propositions solve in specific the farmers a correct time for the different proceedings of farming. An example is spraying fertiliser, within this project the farmers do not have to spoil so many materials anymore. Because good weather information could prevent a not predicted rain which rinses the just-sprayed fertiliser from the trees.

Weather knowledge

The weather knowledge exchange is the base for this project. It is valuable for all partners involved. It is the core value of TAHMO, which collects the meteo-data with a small station and transforms the data into a weather forecast. Farmerline is the company who sells this knowledge to LBCs, who then shares this weather forecast to the cocoa farmers. During our stay we need to find out if the farmers already know the consecutive proceedings after receiving the weather knowledge. It would be a shame if they could receive the data and they are not able to work with it. [London, 2007]

What makes meteo-data of TAHMO more valuable then the forecast of GMet? It is all about the details. Because they provide the same sort of information, but the forecast of TAHMO could be very localised. Since Ghana is a big country, the weather difference between north and south could be a huge difference or even different villages.

Brand/Status

With participating in this project the LBCs could qualify the status of their brand, while providing the farmers a change for more income then they used to have. Some of the chocolate makers would prefer such a status over LBCs who do not care about the farmers. This is not directly a need from the LBC, but it is definitely a good side effect.

Price

The cocoa price is fixed; the only way to give the farmers more money is when their farms are qualified with a certification like ‘Fair Trade’. Which means that the price is not going to change dramatically in this project, in order to change it there need to be lots of discussion with the (corrupt) government.

Cost reduction

But what will be changed with the costs is a reduction of material cost. With the possibility to reach out to the weather data, the cocoa farmers are able to set a correct time for the different proceedings of farming. An example is spraying fertiliser, within this project the farmers do not have to spoil so many materials anymore. Because good weather information could prevent a not predicted rain which rinses the just-sprayed fertiliser from the trees.

More revenue

Unless the fact that the price per bag of cocoa is stagnant, this project could fulfil the most desirable need of both costumers. Since a good understanding of upcoming weather information will quantify their harvest. A loss of harvest could be a result of a miscalculation of weather, which rinses the fertilizer. And afterwards it gets really dry and hot, ideal for a pest to spread along the cocoa trees. Which destroys the harvest. 

More revenue can lead towards a difference in society, where the farmers are able to feed their families better. In general it leads to a redistribution of income and wealth between rich and poor. Which is excellent, because Prahalad once said that ‘extreme inequity of wealth distribution reinforces the view that the poor cannot participate in the global market economy, event though they constitute the majority of the population’.[Prahalad, 2002]